In december 2018, a decision was made about the new focus of the police training in conflict management, Polkon. The training is continuously updated based on experience, the police have received from various events. The focus has been amended on two previous occasions.
Since 1 January, the focus is to develop the police’s ability to make an accurate assessment of each unique situation. The goal with this change is that each polisgripande to be as safe as possible, and cause as little conflict and use of force as possible.
– Now we put the emphasis on increasing the polisernas ability to make better, more adequate assessments in difficult situations. It is about using the right tactics at the right time. The Swedish police is good at it, but will be even better, ” says Tomas Windahl, ämnesområdesansvarig for Polkon.
in almost 30 years, as blåljuspolis, but also as a manager. Since the beginning of the 2000s, he is working with competence development within the police.
Polkon included both in the police basic training and in the continuous development of skills. It is the police’s basic training in self-protection, weapons and tactics.
A large part of the training in conflict management assumes situations that are based on real events, but written so that they work better pedagogically.
Through role-playing, or scenarieträning as the police say, with practice, the police officers in different situations. At the undergraduate level, it can be an actor as a counterparty. In the development of skills, it is usually the police themselves who play all the roles.
” We’re trying to teach us of past events that has not always been one hundred percent great. It is a part of the direction to reduce the use of force, ” says Tomas Windahl.
exposed police officers to a variety of situations. Great deals on everyday events that ‘stuff’ in krogköer, lägenhetsbråk or burglary. But it can also be really threatening people, serious crime or anyone who is planning a terrorist attack. It can also be about to handle situations with people suffering from mental illness.
in Order to make the right judgments in these different situations, it is important to quickly read the situation and make the right decision.
” We have seen that ingripandepolisernas daily life is becoming increasingly complex and difficult to assess. People who call in to a central building management system is often stressed as the knowledge that the patrol can bring on a mission is quite limited.
In the documentary series ”Police” on TV4 in sweden on Monday was shown how police officers can meet the increasingly tough attitude, with everything from provocations and taunts to outright threats. It is now a part of the police to everyday life and something everyone must handle.
– you Will come to a place where people are rowdy, unruly and ugly in the mouth, then your mission is to calm the situation, try to see if it committed any crimes and documenting so that we can prosecute. It should be quiet so that people are safe and secure. It is your mission as a police officer, ” says Tomas Windahl.
– Conflict management is very little about weapons, ” says Tomas Windahl. Photo: Anette Nantell
– It starts already in the recruitment, we will recruit people who are stable. Then we teach them throughout the training to blend into their professional role as a police officer. Our mission is not to be cursed at people. Our mission is to resolve conflicts and ensure that it is safe out there, ” says Tomas Windahl.
” I’m not saying it’s easy, but you have your role and your mission clear to you and a plan of action to respond to it so perhaps the provocations to bounce back. But it is clear that it takes on all.
as the police have tabs on their own mental ability, ” says Tomas Windahl. Are you calm and balanced, and understand why a drunk person uses the words he does to you, that it isn’t personal, but directed toward you as a representative of something so it is easier to take.
this is something that police officers get to practice in role-playing during the training. Here, they can take the turns properly. Experienced police officers have a long list with their own experiences and persongallerier to draw from.
An important part of the scenarieträningen is a afterwards reflect on why it went as it went during the exercise.
” you Stood too close? What konfliktstil chose you? How did you talk with people? There was something else you had been able to do? Did you feel stressed? How can we work with it in that case?
– keep in mind röstläget. To raise your voice is a good way to escalate a conflict. Working with a distance to the person. Don’t stand too close to the personal sphere – it may be experienced as provocative and result in a more physically than verbally aggressive behavior.
We’re doing 1.5 million interventions each year. At a very small part of them used violence, at an even smaller part, we use our arms.
body language is something that Tomas Windahl particularly highlighted in the communication.
” Our uniforms may come across as provocative – it’s dark and we’re wearing weapons. But I would say that your body language, the way you talk and respond to people, will overshadow it, ” he says.
in recent years, led to people being killed by police shots have been about people with mental illness. The police have received a mandate from the government to increase knowledge about mental illness at all to the police.
Mental health has also an important part of the new direction of Polkon.
” We make 1.5 million interventions each year. At a very small part of them used violence, at an even smaller part, we use our arms. In those situations, it is often about mental illness. Then we want to get better at using non-violence in these situations, ” he says.
– If we meet a person who does not respond in the way you normally do, then it means the uncertainty for us. We can’t read the same signals as we do with the other. The unknown is always difficult to manage.
Tomas Windahl talking about working with a lågaffektivt treatment. It can be about avoiding eye contact in certain situations, or to not put your hand on a person.
– It is, after all, so we typically do. But these cases, it might lead to a reverse reaction and trigger a våldamt behavior, ” he says.
If there is an uncertain position, perhaps the police can wait and call the doctor.
– It might not be so dangerous if this person is allowed to stand there for a moment. Can we get the person’s behandlingspersonal so we can support them if it would go wrong.
also on developing methods for how the police takes in people, brottar down and fight. The methods have been taken from various martial arts. Within a couple of weeks, the methods shall be tested medically.
– At the closures that we do there is always the risk that someone gets hurt. We are trying to find a softer variant of it. Everything goes out that we are not going to harm people.
Polkon have 2016-2018 focused on terror. The focus was developed after the explosion of american pop artist jim dine, but before terrorattentatet on Drottninggatan in Stockholm.
” Sweden did not know so much about the terror before it began to happen to the muslims in the world. This is something that can happen even with us. Thus, we need to prepare ourselves mentally for it. All in all, one can say that the orientation prepared the Swedish police that it is something that can happen, and what are the requirements that society imposes on us as police officers.
the Issues discussed were: How can a terrorist attack look like? What is a terrorist? What is the difference between a terrorist attack against a grossly criminal procedure?
In a previous article in the series did polisforskaren Stefan Holgersson, a link between the focus on terrorism and a tougher attitude within the police force, and that in the long run, could be behind the increase in the number of fatal police shootings. Tomas Windahl don’t see the link and don’t think that the focus on terror done to konflikthanteringen been put on the exception.
” I’m not going that way. The focus was about that we mentally prepare ourselves that we may have a terrorist attack that we have to deal with. But we did not set up any new methods and trained not different in conflict management for it, ” he says.
– All people are different, including police officers. There are certainly police officers who are more likely to use violence than others. But we do not train for it. It is not what education is about. There is no trend that we should be tougher, harder or meaner. There is no profit with it. We still proceed from a defensive tactic, to solve problems without violence. For the most part it goes well, ” he says.
” I think we can see the quality of the Swedish police ingripandeförmåga. We can also see that our approaches have contributed to some interventions become more successful than they might otherwise have been.
” But we don’t want to induce handlingsförlamade police officers. Sometimes the only solution is to use violence. Then we’ll use the right type of violence and level of violence.
Eric Torell was honored after the shooting. Photo: Alexander Mahmoud
